Just Say It
by Sygis
Summary: Getting Ace to admit something was pretty frustrating in itself for the blond but enough was enough. SaboAce/AceSabo oneshot.


**ASL is amazing, AceLu/SaboLu are so perfect, but I wonder why some people don't really appreciate the SaboAce relationship. I honestly love it. After writing so many scenarios between those two dorks, it's absolutely fun. I know that without Luffy, for the most part, they're extremely angsty (insert any other sad term), but regardless of that they have a great thing going on and they knew each other FIRST before running into Luffy. I cannot say this enough times, I FUCKING LOVE SABOACE. Okay, moving on. This was actually a request for my friend Rina. The scenario would be Ace not wanting to admit his feelings for his roommate Sabo. Part of the way Sabo acted here was all YOU'RE FAULT RINA, ALL YOUR FAULT *points finger* Anyway, HERE YOU GO.**

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><p>"You like me, don't you?" The blond stated bluntly as he stared at the freckled male attempting to finish his work for another class.<p>

"What?!" Ace's eyes widened with disbelief as his mind slowly processed the blunt question.

_This cocky bastard..._

Sabo stared indifferently at him.

"Not sure what in the world would make you say something like that, but just to let you know, I don't." Ace said as he completely lost focus on whatever it was he was writing and got a bit nervous. He attempted to keep his composure in front of the other.

"Ah, so I'm wrong?" Sabo snorted with a hint of humor in his voice. He honestly didn't believe the freckled male, which made Ace wonder if he had really been that obvious. It just made him feel like more of an idiot.

"So you don't? I honestly don't believe you."

"Don't care. I'm not saying anymore, you asshole. I already said no." He wasn't going to feed that ego. Even if he did like him (not like he wanted to in the first place, but things just happened here and there as he spent almost every waking moment with him), Ace wasn't about to satisfy the side of the blond that annoyed him most.

"So stop being so damn cocky." The freckled male crossed his arms in frustration.

"That's a shame." Sabo sighed in disappointment. He already knew how the idiot felt, but at the same time he wanted to hear it from the other's mouth. He was tired of this game and figured he may as well do something about it. When he first met his roommate/classmate he would have never guessed for him to be so difficult, but one day with the freckled male was enough for him to figure out what a pain in the ass Portgas D. Ace would be. The guy denied so much when it came to his feelings. Sabo was never one to be so affectionate either, but he was fully aware that he liked Ace. He knew he wanted more with the guy and he always noticed the glances he'd get from the other.

"If you're not going to do anything about it, I guess I'll do it since you're being an idiot." Sabo leaned in closer to Ace and his hands traveled up inside of his shirt. Ace silently gasped and quickly lifted his hands to stop Sabo, but somewhere along the way, he decided to let them rest over the blond's arms. His touch felt even better than he imagined and he was getting sucked into the different sensations he was receiving. Biting his lip, Ace felt Sabo's hands graze over his skin and his hands slowly traveled up his chest. His mind couldn't process the situation at all.

"I know you're always looking at me, whether if it's in class or if it's here." Sabo began, twisting and pinching Ace's nipples in a delightful manner. Ace bite his lip much harder wondering if he'd draw blood anytime soon. He couldn't believe how damn good that felt. He either was extremely attracted to this damn cocky know it all roommate of his or he just hadn't felt someone else's touch in a long time. He wouldn't admit it, but it was actually both.

"A-And how would YOU know that?" Ace said with a slightly hitched tone.

"How else do you think idiot? I'm always looking at you too."

Ace's hands clawed Sabo's arm, hoping he would just stop and be able to hold off a moan. Holy hell he felt stupidly weak all of a sudden.

"Now the question is, why are you still resisting when your body clearly is enjoying it." Sabo said in a teasing tone.

"S-Shut the hell up S-Sabo!" Ace managed to groan but he let out a small moan shortly after when he felt Sabo's lips being pressed against his neck. Sabo was right, if he didn't want the attention at all he would have done something, like punched him. He wanted this, no, he wanted _Sabo_. Ace felt his face heat up when the blond pulled out his hand from underneath the shirt and moved away from teasing his neck to simply staring. Both males were looking at one another now, Ace was a bit more on the dazed side. Sabo's smile sunk into a low smirk and before the other male knew it, the blond had leaned forward to kiss him on the lips this time around.

Catching him completely off guard, Ace felt Sabo's tongue thrust inside his mouth with eagerness and impatience. Sabo's last words still rung in his mind and honestly, the blond's attitude pissed him off beyond belief, but he wasn't going to let Sabo take the entire lead in this. If he wanted him to reciprocate, fine, but he wanted to show the blond up as well and leave him panting. He started to go along with the Sabo's actions and gave himself to the moment. Ace needed to touch, he grabbed onto the blond's shoulders as Sabo smirked into the kiss. The blond found his hands traveling to the freckled males hair and let his fingers linger around the dark wavy strands. Ace quickly did the same with Sabo's hair as he ran his fingers through the blond curls.

Their tongues wrestled for dominance. Ace was highly enjoying this and Sabo's tongue felt so smooth against his own. He savored the moment as much as the other and they moaned into each other's mouths. The light vibrations of the moans gave them both a tickling sensation in their throats. Sabo tried to break away from the wet and passionate kisses, but Ace felt a slight moment of glory and pushed his head in even more, deepening and making the kiss last what seemed an eternity. A good minute afterward, they found themselves out of breath and panting with flushed expressions.

"G-God damn, so instead of admitting you like me, you push your tongue further down my throat hoping to asphyxiate me?" Sabo said in between catching his breath.

It was Ace's turn to smirk, which he did. "You stuck your tongue down my throat first, you asshole."

"Well, this was never going to get anywhere if I left it up to you." Sabo said smugly.

"What the hell?! I could have come on to you, you didn't have to force yourself, oh precious prince."

Sabo felt irritation at that nickname and threw Ace's book at him. The freckled male was too proud to even notice the flying book and it smacked him on the face.

"WHAT THE HELL!" he yelled angrily.

"I may like you, but you're an asshole and you deserved that for being too proud." Sabo smiled.

"LIKEWISE on the _asshole_ part." Ace rubbed his face in pain.

Both males simply laughed at themselves. They went from making out and admitting their feelings openly to teasing and yelling at each other. How it always went back to that, they didn't know. Ace didn't care, he felt like Sabo was the only person he could be like this with and actually STAYED with him. Sabo on the other hand liked the quick tempered male around, he made things interesting and simply accepted him, despite the constant headaches. He cared about him and came to find similarities between them and their way of thinking.

Ace actually felt relieved that this happened, it was like a weight was lifted off his tension (sexual or not) constricted him. He knew that Sabo could get away with more things than just a make out session and the blond knew that as well. If the freckled male got overly excited with simple touches and lip mashing, then yes they could go the extra mile.

"So. Admit it, Ace." Sabo insisted on the topic at hand while his fingers suddenly began to trace the edges of Ace's lips. He looked at him in a way that he had never seen him before which caused Ace to panic a bit. So they made out, and they obviously liked each other. What was next? Sex? Sex sounded great, but Ace didn't just want sex. He felt like such a loser about it, but when it came to relationships he was never enthusiastic about them. He had a few failed attempts here and there in the past and boy were they mistakes. But Sabo was so much more than that to him. They knew so much about each other already and the fact their initial friendship was like that said a lot to him. He couldn't believe there was someone out there who was able to handle him. He felt like such an idiot. He still couldn't believe what was happening. He huffed in annoyance and just figured he'd say it to get the blond to shut the hell up.

"I-I like you. Kind of. Sort of. You're tolerable. There, happy?" Ace finally stated, but he slowly buried his head on Sabo's shoulder so he wouldn't see his already flustered up face. He hated the blond oh so much.

Sabo's eyes widened in surprise at the freckled male's sudden gesture, but he could only smile and chuckle afterward. "Hm, that was crappy but good enough I guess."

"Oi, screw you, I'm not repeating it."

Sabo chuckled and couldn't fight the urge to just pat the freckled male's head, which he did only to receive a quick smack in response. He could get the other to admit it whenever he wanted truthfully speaking, but Ace just seemed so vulnerable at the moment so he decided to leave it at that.

"Well, I like you too." Sabo suddenly whispered in Ace's ear before he leaned his head on the other's shoulder.

"I already knew that." Ace said in a low tone. Sabo's voice cracked into a laugh.

"Really? Then why the hell were you playing hard to get you prick! Every time I asked you out to have fun you would avoid my invitations."

"Because, you're an obnoxious asshole. I always thought you just liked making me feel dumb."

"If that were the case I would have told you fuck off. I never thought I was superior to you." Sabo stated bluntly. The blond wondered if Ace really did feel like that or if he was just saying it to beat himself up. Either way, he found it a bit offensive, but that was just like Ace.

"W-Why?" Ace suddenly whispered, his head was still on the other's shoulder. He felt so worn out by everything. He wasn't used to these types of talks and he wanted to run off but that wasn't happening. Sabo finally felt comfortable enough to talk to Ace about these things because he liked him enough to want to be there with him. He found someone whom he wanted to share himself with. "I don't get why you would even like me, let alone try for a guy like me. You know enough about me. You should have backed off."

"You know enough about me too. I don't care about your past. We both have fucked up backgrounds and we still enjoy one another's company. So stop trying to take in everything by yourself, ACE. You deserve to be happy."

Sabo tried to calm himself down. He honestly hated it when Ace belittled himself. To go on a long rant of reasons why he even liked Ace, decisions, decisions. Ace's attitude towards things in general intrigued him, and that's where it simply started. As for explaining how it led to him knowing he wanted to share things with this person, maybe it was just simply the time together that they spent that aided in it all. it's true that they bickered way too much in the beginning and annoyed each other beyond belief, but eventually they both came to respect one another. It eventually led up to the relationship they had now. The fact someone like Ace even enrolled in this place and was able to stay surprised him to say the least, but that's when he learned that Ace had an adoptive father whom supported him all the way. Ace thought about dropping out many times, but when he met Sabo, the guy strangely motivated him.

"You know, you're just as stupid as I am, you-you dumbass." Ace chuckled shortly afterward.

Sabo laughed as loudly as he could lifting his face off of the other's shoulder. Once he stopped and caught his breath he said, "Yeah, I guess I am, but you're pretty bad."

It was just like Ace to curse at him when he was frustrated. There was a sudden knock at the door and Ace lifted himself off of Sabo as the blond went to go answer it. When he answered the door, there was a younger looking male with dark short hair and owl-like eyes wearing a yellow straw hat. That yellow straw hat, ah, the boy who lived a floor below them as Sabo recalled.

"Hi~ My name's Luffy!" The dark haired said cheerfully.

"Hi." They stared back at one another until Sabo decided to continue on. " Uh...need anything?" The blond asked, not sure what he should even ask seeing as the random visitor was the one who knocked. He seemed extremely chipper.

"Do you guys have an extra math book I could borrow...?"

"What kind of math?" He figured it was the same math Ace was taking, but it was better to ask.

The younger male took out a small paper out of his pocket and squinted at the letters on it. "Uhh math 105!"

"Uh yeah, my roommate has the book for that class." Sabo turned around. "Hey, Ace?"

"Yeah?" The freckled male responded as he leaned back on his chair and then a loud thump was heard along with something heavy crashing on the floor.

Sabo sighed heavily. He already knew what happened. The freckled male was on the floor completely knocked out. The blond hadn't noticed, but Luffy had taken a peak through the door and started pointing at the figure on the floor as he laughed.

Sabo simply stared at the dark haired male in slight amazement. "That's the first time someone didn't freak out and think he was dead." He hadn't seen Ace go through a narcoleptic fit in a long while. He assumed it would come back eventually, at least it didn't happen as they made out.

_If he falls asleep during sex...I swear-_

"Shishishi~ He looks funnier like that. He's always looking like this-" He made an angry looking expression with his eyebrows furrowed and arms crossed.

Sabo couldn't help but laugh and agree. He thought it was adorable how someone could impersonate Ace perfectly. He had seen Luffy around the nearby classrooms before, but didn't have him in any of his own classes so he never bothered to talk to him. He assumed the guy was a freshmen of some sort to be taking that math class in particular or maybe it simply wasn't his strong point? The guy intrigued him quite a bit but he'd simply observe whenever he got the chance and nothing more. Sabo felt that Ace possibly had a thing for Luffy though. His body language was easily readable and every time he would walk up to Ace to ask him something, he'd react either violently or ignore him with a slight flustered expression. He recognized that type of attitude anywhere.

What amazed the blond the most though was how unfazed the guy was to Ace's treatment and continued to pursue his friendship. Ace would deny knowing him despite having him for a math class but that didn't fool Sabo. He thought he was the only who could deal with Ace, but it seemed there was somebody else who was capable of it too.

There was a sudden hand waving side to side that caught his attention. "Oiiiiii~ So the book?"

"Right, the book. Sorry." The blond walked over to the nearby desk and shrugged. He figured Ace would throw a fit regardless, so he handed the book over to the younger male who grinned in response.

"Thank you- Uh what's your name?"

"You can call me Sabo." The blond lightly smiled back.

"Okay! Thanks! I'll give it back when I'm done."

"By the way, you don't have a book of your own? I'm still lending this to you just wondering is all."

"Hm, I do, but Zoro took it in the morning and he isn't back yet!"

The blond wondered who in the world Zoro was, but didn't bother asking. It was none of his business.

"But..it's almost night time..." he said to the younger male.

"Yeah shishishi~ Zoro gets lost a lot."

"Is he new?"

"Nah he just gets lost anywhere."

_What a terrible sense of direction..._

The blond had a sudden idea pop up. "Hey, before you go, about that book, just keep it. Stop by tomorrow in the afternoon before your class starts and give it to him."

He didn't feel like letting the opportunity slip, besides, he felt like Ace could use another friend and he needed to stop dodging every damn chance he could get to meet someone new. This Luffy guy had sparked his interest since he first noticed Ace's interactions with him. He wasn't sure where this would lead them aside from a very grumpy Ace, but he was used to it. Maybe in the long run, he'd make a _friend_ too.

"Oh, alright! See ya later then, Sabo!~" Luffy ran off as Sabo closed the door.

**xxx**

"YOU WHAT?!" Ace shouted angrily.

"I lent that Luffy guy your book. You already used it earlier so what are you crying about?" Sabo sighed.

"I'm not CRYING. Who the hell gave you permission to lend out my book and to that damn guy too."

"I was about to, but you fell asleep right in the middle of it. He was the one at the door." The blond grinned. "Since you had one of your fits and he practically needed it, I saw no harm."

"Nononono. What the HELL, Sabo! That guy is annoying!"

"You're not any better." Sabo said unamused.

"Shut UP! How the hell did he know this was my dorm room!?"

"He probably didn't. If he did, don't you think he would have come up more often? He seems like the bold type."

Ace ran his own fingers through his hair in frustration. "God dammit."

"Oh yeah, by the way you'll be able to get to know him much better seeing as he's coming tomorrow afternoon to give you your book back before class! Maybe you guys can even walk there together." He teased. "Besides, it took you months to admit you liked me, you probably have a crush on this Luffy guy already and just don't want to admit it." He snickered as he grabbed his bag and headed for the door.

"You're a damn bastard! I'm gonna kick your ass-"

"Alright, I gotta go. I'll hear you bitch later~!" Sabo said as he closed the door on Ace before the other unleashed his wrath.

He thought his feelings for Sabo were a handful already and now the blond was trying to shove someone else into his life? A few hours passed and the freckled male heard a knock at the door. He didn't even bother guessing who it was. He got up off his bed feeling defeated and walked over to answer.

There he was, the guy from his math class, Luffy. He looked as cheerful as ever with his signature grin. A grin that made Ace look away. He didn't know how to handle the guy in the first place.

"Ace! Here's your book." The younger male handed it over.

"Thanks." Ace said as he was about to close the door but Luffy stopped him.

"Class starts soon, walk with me! Shishishi!"

He was going to deny him, he really was, but for some reason this guy gleamed in confidence as if he expected Ace to say yes. So instead he simply questioned him.

"Why?"

"Because, we have the same class and I want to get to know Ace more."

Ace's eyes widened. He felt a rush of heat on his face and grabbed his things before shutting the door and locking it dismissing the last statement.

"Whatever. Let's just go."

Luffy jumped up happily and grabbed Ace's arm without warning as he started talking about the different foods his friend Sanji knew how to make. It was a bit creepy to the freckled male how into the actual story he was getting. He internally cursed himself and Sabo.

_Sabo, I'm gonna kick your ass when I get back. Thank god I only have this guy for one class..._

As for Sabo being right on Ace liking Luffy, only time would tell. All Ace knew was that his relationship with Sabo would never change, whether they were intimate or not. He was still his person to go to, but did he really have to stand this guy clinging onto him like a monkey?

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><p><strong>Yeah, I had to add Luffy at the end. I just love it when Luffy randomly appears like "SUP, my bitches!" I'm kidding, don't hurt me. I hope you liked it RINA! :D<strong>


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